


Setting Sail, Coming Home

by ansemaru



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: 50 Sentences, Angst, Community: 1sentence, M/M, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-29
Updated: 2013-09-29
Packaged: 2017-12-28 00:23:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/985410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ansemaru/pseuds/ansemaru
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ostensibly for 1sentence, using theme set Epsilon. Reiner and Bertolt are warriors to the bitter end, and their love is what both pulls them together and drags them apart until then. Massive spoilers for the Attack on Titan manga.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Setting Sail, Coming Home

**Motion**

He watched Bertolt as they flew from roof to roof, eyes more focused on the way his muscles behave underneath his clothes than on possible threats.

**Cool**

"Your skin feels so nice," he whispered, pressing his warm face into Reiner's chest.

**Young**

In light of what happened, it seemed a weak consolation, but he still kissed the scrape on Reiner's knee better.

**Last**

They stood together in the end, sentinels of a dying era, protecting each others' backs until they could fight no more.

**Wrong**

"I guess you're hoping Annie will return your feelings, huh, Bertl?" he said, laughing so guilelessly that it hurt to listen to.

**Gentle**

Bertolt's hand, which he had seen crushing a man alive and destroying a dozen cannons with a single blow, ran down Reiner's spine as delicately as a snake across the ground.

**One**

He gracefully glided away through the steam cloud already rising from the fallen titan, and Reiner could see as he approached that there was terror and guilt plain in his eyes- for that had been his first kill.

**Thousand**

Below him, the people of Shiganshina looked like nothing more than ants waiting to be exterminated.

**King**

Reiner kneeled before Bertolt, head dipped so low as to let him kiss the taller boy's long, bony toes.

**Learn**

This time, he entered him more slowly, and made sure to do what Reiner had asked.

**Blur**

Through bleary eyes and a shroud of steam he watched Reiner transform and move forward, accelerating until he left his clouded field of vision once more.

**Wait**

His heart was beating so hard it overwhelmed the sound of the wall shattering, his eyes fixed on the vast back of the Colossus, ready to make a move as soon as it fell.

**Change**

This time, it was a relief to see crimson flesh and white bone knit into shape around Bertolt's tiny, broken body.

**Command**

"Kneel," Bertolt whispered, and Reiner listened for once.

**Hold**  

He felt himself steadied by Reiner's strong hands, one on his lower back, the other on his behind, as he continued to move his hips.

**Need**

Long arms wrapped around Reiner's back, hands grasped his chest with an alarming urgency, and he felt the shapes that could only be the other boy's face pressing into the nape of his neck, while sweat and warm breath washed against his skin in a sudden exhaled tide.

**Vision**

Reiner couldn't see it, or perhaps refused to see it, but Bertolt's line of sight was only ever aimed at him.

**Attention**

He thought he must have been the only one to notice these things- how long he would laugh at a good joke, the way he'd unconsciously roll up his sleeves when things got difficult, the halo his golden hair made around his head when he sat in front of a lantern- and he was fine with that.

**Soul**

He mumbled "If feel this way, doesn't it mean I've still got some human in me?" into his shoulder, breath uneven.

**Picture**

"Didn't know you could draw," Reiner said, smiling at the charcoal likeness of his own face that an embarrassed Bertolt was desperately trying to cover with his hands.

**Fool**

"I know he'll remember," he said to her, eyes shining with desperation.

**Mad**

"The commander will be proud, once we get back," he said, smiling, unable to see why Bertolt's face looked so pained.

**Child**

"Her name is Anna- she lost her family to the last titans," he said, showing him the tiny blonde girl sleeping on his shoulder.

**Now**

The only thing between Bertolt and a certain, painful death was a single thread, to which Reiner held the opposite end.

**Shadow**

Reiner didn't feel fear as the sixty-meter form plummeted towards him, blotting out the sun- he only felt relief.

**Goodbye**

Bertolt couldn't even utter a coherent word as he sobbed over the other boy in his arms.

**Hide**

They panicked and hid under the sheets as they heard one of the other boys stir, making more noise trying to mask their behavior than they'd made actually doing anything.

**Fortune**

"I'm lucky," he said, quietly, "that you'd put up with someone as terrible as me, after all this time."

**Safe**

He cupped one massive, armored hand over Bertolt, protecting all he held dear with a single gesture.

**Ghost**  

Sometimes, when it was just the two of them, alone in some forest or darkened supply room, they felt what could only have been Berik's warmth.

**Book**

It was strange, to borrow Armin's tome about the world beyond the walls, and to know what lay beyond in a way the author never had, and Bertolt didn't know how to feel about it.

**Eye**

It was a steaming mess of blood and vitreous fluid, already halfway-healed as Reiner grabbed the blade barehanded to wrest it away from him.

**Never**

In the morning light, on the hill before Reiner's home, they sat together and embraced, wholly at peace.

**Sing**

It was a quiet tune, one that none of the 104th had heard before, save Reiner- who knew all too well both the song and the words that Bertolt intentionally left out.

**Sudden**

Where two hands had been was now one, pierced through with a blade, while Bertolt's neck and hand blossomed red with blood.

**Stop**

Bertolt felt everything freeze, Reiner's words like ice and slush clogging the river of thought, as the other boy continued to speak to Eren.

**Time**

The distance between a warrior and a soldier was the span of three years.

**Wash**

In titan territory, underground springs are the only safe place to bathe, and though they were cold, both young men willingly stripped down in front of each other to take advantage of this.

**Torn**

"Which are you right now?" he asked, knowing the knot of dread in his stomach would stay regardless of which answer he got.

**History**

It haunts Bertolt to know that he wasn't always like this, that until three years ago Reiner's eyes were unclouded by doubt and delusion.

**Power**

This time, Bertolt traced a finger down Reiner's neck, bringing it up again in a single motion to form an oblong shape, unmistakable in position and form, holding him still without having to do anything more than a gentle touch.

**Bother**

Reiner liked to sneak up on him sometimes, ghosting his hand across the back of his neck just to startle him into turning around, and it was nothing short of maddening.

**God**

There's a jealousy that wells up inside Bertolt when he sees Krista talking to Reiner, even though he knows it's ultimately meaningless, and it's not even her fault.

**Wall**

It was a constant reminder of what he was meant to do, and though it hurt, he found himself wishing it would remind Reiner, too.

**Naked**

Seeing the intricate, regular lines of bruises and abrasions across Bertolt's skin awoke something deep within him, something ravenous and primal that desired to make the other boy feel these lines like he had never felt anything before.

**Drive**

He was in awe as Reiner marched forward towards Eren, the determination of the warrior momentarily overcoming his overwhelming dread.

**Harm**

Physical wounds will never scar either of them, but the bonds they formed in those three years left marks too deep to heal.

**Precious**

Reiner encircled Bertolt with his arms, an unbreakable barrier that he'd let nothing through from the outside.

**Hunger**

Bertolt's kisses turned to bites, his tender embrace to needy, desperate fucking within the span of minutes.

**Believe**

If they could just complete the mission, they would surely be allowed to return home.


End file.
